Don't tell Jim Morgans, but he now has eight district golds

With Parkland having won the District 11 4A title Friday night with a 37-0 win over Pleasant Valley, I asked Trojans coach Jim Morgans after the medal ceremony how many district golds he now has collected.

Morgans had no idea.

He wasn't just pretending not to know. He really didn't know. Frankly, I don't think he even wanted to know.

That's Morgans, a guy who has never let his ego or his image get in the way of winning football games.

Jim just said: "That's something I'll think about when I get out of this thing."

Morgans is probably in the last year or two of a storied coaching career that has now included 224 wins.

And, for the record, he has now won eight district championships -- six at CCHS to go with two in Orefield.

According to my count, he has now tied Bob Stem for most district titles in District 11 football history.

What is unique about Morgans is that he has always surrounded himself with strong assistants. He has never been a control freak who had to do everything his way. He brings quality guys aboard and lets them coach.

A coach worried about his own ego or legacy surrounds himself with weak assistants. Morgans just wants the best people possible because he wants the best program possible.

Back at CCHS, I remember his key guys were always Tom Filipovits, Sam Senneca and John Quinn.

His current Parkland staff includes Tim Moncman, who won a state title at Liberty four years ago and led the Hurricanes to three state finals in a four-year span.

It also includes Tim McGorry, who was Morgans' quarterback on Central's 1998 state title team and was an offensive coordinator on Central's 2010 state title team.

Frank Lane, Paul Hagadus, Dan Lewis ... all of these guys have been around for awhile.

I believe that these guys give Parkland the edge the deeper the team goes in the state tournament. They've been through every situation possible.

Parkland has everything going its way right now. They didn't even play anything resembling a perfect game tonight and were actually quite average on offense, and still won 37-0 over a very good Pleasant Valley team. If they can put it all together for four more games they will get their second state title.

Delaware Valley doesn't want to see them again. Only a ton of Parkland mistakes led to a 37-35 DV win back on Labor Day weekend.

This Parkland team has a chance to be real special. Morgans sees it. Moncman sees it. And in about four weeks, the whole state might see it.